More than 800,000 donations were collected for cancer research in a few days thanks to a call on women to take selfies without any make-up on. In the last few days in the UK, newsfeeds on Facebook and Twitter have been swamped by no make-up selfies. And for once the self-portrait didn’t have anything to do with narcissism, on the contrary, they were taken with the objective of contributing to a good cause. With the emergence and the new awareness of the real impact of social networks, many companies have understood the importance of communicating through those platforms, which did not fail to give ideas to certain charities.

This week, Cancer Research UK chose to launch an operation based on the selfie phenomenon in order to collect funds. The campaign invites women to take a “no make-up selfie” and aims at convincing them to give a few pounds and encouraging their relatives to make donations.

But some people argue that the phenomenon is narcissism masked as charity. Indeed, even though the #nomakeupselfie hashtag has been going crazy, it doesn’t necessarily include the word cancer or donation. And most of the selfies don’t even include a link or mention a cancer charity! So most of the girls may have taken those selfies in order to follow a trend and not to help cancer research. Moreover, the movement was initiated with an event that didn’t have anything to do with helping charities. It began with the bare-faced picture uploaded by American author Laura Lippman in solidarity with actress Kim Novak after she was criticized for her looks at the Oscars. Therefore this social craze has in the beginning everything to do with looks and narcissism and very little to do with selfless help to Cancer Research.

However, is it really relevant to see no make-up selfies only as a form of narcissism? Nowadays lots of women are unfortunately blinded by the clichés about beauty and fashion, they think that make-up is indispensable to be at least considered feminine. Consequently this movement could be a good exercise for women who have difficulties to accept themselves without any make-up: a probable first step towards women’s natural beauty. Therefore, the trend kills two birds with one stone: more than a psychological evolution in minds, the no make-up selfie phenomenon is actually a really efficient way to convince people to donate: £2 million in donations within 48 hours and it isn’t over yet.

If in France, no make-up selfiesdon’t tempt people, nothing keeps one from contributing to the cause by sending donations by phoning the 0 810 111 101 or going on the Ligue contre le cancer’s website.